For those who haven't taken part in the debate at the Yahoo BIAB group here's the group's moderator and one of BIAB's biggest proponents, Alasdair Macrae Birch, expressing the same sentiments but much more eloquently :

".....What I find disappointing/sad is the move away from further development in termsof midi. At one time in my life I was involved in the development of the midistandard, and sadly PG Music have implemented only a fraction of what theycould. MIDI was developed to handle virtually any types of music that is played,in any meters, etc. To start with BIAB's ppqn (parts per quarter note)resolution is only 120, most now use at least 960, and they are not making useof all the midi control data.

As said before, if my recording engineering students are right the price of highquality virtual instruments will get radically cheaper. So sadly, what the userswho don't understand midi and have clamoredfor the "real tracks" have done, is pushed the development in adirection which does not really in the end enhance the core product.

A much better and more flexible real instrument sound could be achieved by usingthe great sounds from companies such as Garritan and implementing more midicontrol data at higher resolution.

To my mind a better deal would have been to enhance the core product and formstrategic business relationships/bundles with the virtual instrument producers.

Sadly the it "sounds cheesy" users have pushed PG Music, IMO, down a potentialevolutionary dead-end. While the rest of us wait for the further development ofcore features and midi resolution/control data.IMO, PG Music made the decision that they could pump up the sales more byimplementing "real tracks" after years of bashing their head against the brickwall when users constantly complained about "cheesy sounds" (As many of us inthis group know, we share their exasperation!) I just hope we can get PG Musicback on track......"

Do you want to develop your pitch, rhythm, and melody recognition? Check out the great ear training games 'Music Replay' and 'Pitch Invasion' included with Band-in-a-Box® for Windows!

Access these when you select the Practice button in the program and choosing to "Launch" either of these from the menu that appears. You can also access these if you open the main "Practice Central..." selection from the same Practice menu. The Practice Window offers the user easy access to different Playalong features (like Soloing Trade 4's, Chord Breaks, Guitar Tutor, etc.), tempo adjustments, 101 Riffs, Ear Training games, and more!

What is Music Replay?
Music Replay focuses on developing three musical skills:Replay Note helps to develope pitch recognition skillsReplay Rhythm developes the ability to recognize and play different rhythms.Replay Melody combines Note and Rhythm - 1 bar melodies are played, and the user must play them back with the correct pitch and rhythm!

What is Pitch Invasion?
In the feel of a classic arcade game, "aliens" decent an your planet with the hopes of stealing your 15 instruments - and you can't let them! How do you destroy them? Match the pitch the alien is playing before it hits the ground! The more aliens you destroy, the faster they move! This challenging (and fun!) game also has an App available on iTunes.

For the latest blast from the past for Band-in-a-Box, check out the article The Software Story: Band-in-a-Box by Norm Weinberg, as published in the June 1993 issue of Percussive Notes!

Imagine a group of musicians who would rehearse with you whenever you wanted, wouldn't tire of playing the same songs over and over, could play at any tempo you wanted, could learn new tunes in a matter of minutes, and never have any ego problems? Wouldn't this be an ideal musical situation for gaining experience? Band-in-a-Box to the rescue!
-Norm Weinberg

Hot Keys are a great way to speed up using a lot of different programs... and that includes Band-in-a-Box®!

Band-in-a-Box has keystroke "hot keys" to mute instruments or to adjust volume, panning, reverb, chorus, or bank of instrument without using the mouse, etc... in fact - there are over 100 Hot Key commands for Band-in-a-Box® for Mac!

A feature added with our Band-in-a-Box® 2015 release was the option to Save as Video. This feature is easy to use! When you're ready to save your song within Band-in-a-Box®, choose "Save as Video..." and adjut the settings if you'd like, then choose [OK - Render Video]. Once it's rendered, you can select the [Upload to YouTube], or take a look at your video first when you choose [Show Video File]. You can also choose to open this video file up in a different video program - it's your video file!

What does the video show? The chordsheet within Band-in-a-Box® just as you'd see it when the song is playing - don't worry though, the rendering of the song to video is MUCH FASTER than the duration of the song!